Alien: Revenant
by Noah Newport
Summary: Rian longs for more than his life in a small farming colony on planet Revenant-6. When a ship crashes from orbit, the young farmhand discovers a lone survivor in the wreckage: an android named Walter. As they form a strange friendship, Rian starts to suspect this "Walter" is hiding something… and that the android has made him a pawn in a much larger game. [Violence, M/M slash]
1. Gravity

**A/N** : This story takes place 60 years after the events of Alien: Covenant.

I was inspired by Covenant introducing LGBT characters into the Alien universe, so I'm continuing that tradition with this story's protagonist, a young gay man named Rian. I'm also continuing Ridley Scott's hypothesis that, this far into the future, a person's sexuality is no longer controversial. Reviews appreciated!

* * *

 _A meteor is coming to kill us_.

Rian Watts was barely 21 years old and yet the thought didn't do much to alarm him.

Something streaked across the night sky, lighting his family's wheat field in a stormy, silver glow. That was where he spent most of his time, on that wheat field, on his mother's farm, on the forgotten ball of rock and soil and water that was Revenant-6. He was told, constantly, that his life was modest and hearty - he preferred to call it small and boring. He hadn't seen or done much of anything over the course of his short life.

Death by a big chunk of space rock didn't seem all that tragic to him.

Hell, it would have been the most exciting thing to happen to Revenant-6 since Weyland-Yutani colonized it.

But no, he was wrong. If it was a meteor it certainly wasn't a big one. When the great streak of silver disappeared over the small curve of the horizon, its impact was not apocalyptic. There was a great shudder that rippled through the farmlands that Rian felt in his bones, yes, but it did not crack the planet open.

And then silence. As if nothing had happened at all.

What the hell was it, then? An errant beacon? A satellite that drifted off course?

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he stood on the tips of his toes, straining to see beyond the stalks of wheat that obscured his view of the horizon. It would be dawn in a couple of hours. The other colonists would soon be abuzz with chatter of the mysterious crash landing just beyond the perimeter of their southern most outpost.

 _At least we'll all have something to talk about tomorrow_ , Rian thought as he headed back to his family's house at the edge of the field.

* * *

The next morning, Rian rode his bike to town. Well, calling the scant patches of low brick buildings a 'town' was generous. But it was a thing they did on Earth, so it was a thing they did here. (As an inquisitive child, Rian had heard those very words parroted back to him hundreds of times.)

He biked passed the town sign, standing tall and proud on the side of the road. It read:

WELCOME TO MEREDITH  
" _Et in tenebris nihil adolescit_ "  
POPULATION: 200.

Meredith. The center of their colony. Named after some top level executive's daughter, because of course it was. Weyland-Yutani co-sponsored this little endeavor with Earth's government but their share was larger. Thus it was their logo, their policies, and their presence that littered this lonely little planet.

Zooming right by, Rian's heart skipped a beat. That population number needed to be changed. Last month, Revenant-6 suffered its first death. A tragic event, everyone agreed, and it triggered a wave of other firsts: Meredith holding its first funeral, Rian wearing his first suit, and Rian's mother crying for the first time in front of him. He cried too, hours later, after it was all over and he was alone in his room.

Once he arrived in the town square, Rian parked his bike and took in the early morning sky. The air was streaked with vivid purples, golds, and greens - a sight that was normal to him but never failed to draw bewildered comments from off-world traders or visiting company execs.

A bell rang, and just like that, the colony town came to life.

Rian had watched it happen hundreds of times before, but the mundanity of it still fascinated him: the atmo processor engineers lining up for coffee, the mechanics jostling as they compared their schedules for the day, the handful of colony kids laughing and screaming on their way to school. Like clockwork. Every single morning.

 _Speaking of routines_ , Rian thought as unhooked a satchel of freshly processed wheat from his bag. He dropped it off at the cafe as he'd done every day for as long as he could remember. He exchanged a smile with the owner, waved, went on his way. The same workloader operator by the same corner window with the same cup of tea offered the same friendly hello he always did.

Yup. Clockwork.

They were all decent, honest, and hard working people. But unlike Rian, they were happy with what they had and didn't long for anything more. He'd mention a desire to visit Earth to study history or maybe become a doctor in the Zet-Ret 2 region, only to get a patronizing chuckle in return.

" _Oh, you don't wanna do that_ ," they would say. " _You were born on Revenant. We need you here_."

Rian shook his head, trying to mask a sad smile that threatened to reveal his thoughts. He dreamed, oh he loved to dream, but it did him no good to wonder or wish. For better or worse, Revenant-6 would always be his home.

He just wanted to know when he would stop feeling like a stranger.

"Rian!" A woman waved as he exited the cafe. Tall and striking with a long mane of flame red hair, Nolea Ashford rushed across the street to fall in step with him. Her tailored suit and designer shoes stood out in the largely working class crowd. "I'm so glad I ran into you! How is your mother doing?"

Although she had a reputation for being the most personable of the colonial administrators, Rian's instincts had always told him to keep her at distance - albeit a friendly one. The administrators were the middlemen between Weyland-Yutani and the colony. Any hint of wrongdoing would be reported through them.

"Fine," he replied carefully. "I mean, you know, she appreciates everyone's condolences. But she just wants to keep working. Wheat doesn't process itself."

Nolea nodded, understanding. "She's always been a strong woman. We missed you both in last week's town hall, though it's completely understandable why you weren't there."

Rian stiffened and grasped for a new topic. Any new topic. "Did anyone from administration happen to see the crash from last night?"

Nolea's eyebrows raised ever so slightly. Her high heels click-click-clacked as they walked through the square. "You're quite the observant one."

"It was hard not to notice."

"It's already been brought to the attention of our security team. We're sending a couple of new arrivals out to survey the wreckage. Have you met them yet?"

"I don't think so."

When last month's supply dropship arrived, a few new recruits from the United States Colonial Marine Corps arrived with them. The USCMC was another institution in Weyland-Yutani's pockets, and their Marines were called upon to guard the company's most profitable colonies.

"Then you're in luck," Nolea said with a warm smile. She gestured further down the street where three Colonial Marines stood waiting, as stoic and powerful as knights. "Good morning, Captain Hawke."

The man she addressed snorted in response. "Are all the mornings on Revenant-6 as nauseatingly beautiful as this?"

Commanding Officer Hawke was a grizzled fellow with short, buzzed hair and the pale line of an old scar bisecting his forehead. In his 40s at most. The veteran of the trio.

Flanked on his left was an imposing woman with a dark brown complexion and intelligent, alert eyes. She didn't look that much older than Rian, but she held herself with a stoic confidence way beyond her years.

To Hawke's right was the tallest of the three - so tall Rian had to crane his neck to take him in. He was a chiseled man with hard, masculine features and a square jaw dusted with a short beard. Late 20s, early 30s at most. His piercing hazel eyes contrasted with his dark brown hair, which was somewhat longer than the average marine's. It suited his face. And then Rian realized, with a warm blush of attraction, that he very much liked this man's face.

Nolea took the three of them in with a welcoming smile. "I trust it's been a quiet morning so far, Captain?"

"Too quiet," the man snorted again. "I'm itching to get to that crash site before one of those wildcatters do."

Several colonists moonlighted on the side as scavengers, or 'wildcatters', who searched Revenant-6 for mineral deposits, soil and plant samples, and other things of interest to off-world traders. Wildcatting excursions were dangerous but they yielded huge paydays. Technically it was illegal, and the only real thorn in the security team's side.

Before the accident, Rian's father had been a wildcatter and even took him out on a few of the lighter trips.

"All in due time," Nolea replied. "I just wanted to introduce you all to one of Meredith's most enterprising young farmhands. This is Rian Watts."

She touched his shoulders and gently pushed him forward, as if presenting him for Best in Show.

The Marines eyed him neutrally. Rian never usually gave much thought to his appearance but he felt a very sudden rush of embarrassment. Always a gawky kid, he only recently started growing into his looks. Sharp cheekbones supported his slender face, full lips, and wide green eyes that forever looked like they were searching for something. His dark, wavy hair was a bit of a mess that morning. And every morning.

Rian was too self-conscious to call himself attractive, but the way some of the colonists' daughters giggled when he passed them on their way to school, well... it did make him smirk.

"Rian," Hawke gave a curt nod. "What do you do here, son?"

"Agriculture, sir. My family runs the wheat farm."

"Hard work?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hard work is good for a young man. Builds character. Isn't that right, Corporal Ellis?"

The tall bearded Marine lifted his chin, a slight cue of acknowledgment. His gaze held Rian's for a moment - the longest moment in the younger man's life - and then returned to his Commanding Officer. "Sir, yes, sir."

Nolea tucked a section of ginger hair behind her ear. "Captain, may I speak with you privately for a moment?"

"Of course. Rian, pleasure to meet you. Keep up all the good work you do here." He turned to address his charges, his tone hardening. "Corporal Ellis, Private Khanda. Meet me at the vehicle hangar in ten minutes or it'll be your hides hanging off the land crawler."

As the captain and administrator left, Rian couldn't help but notice an odd expression on Nolea's face. Something he couldn't quite place. Skepticism? Hesitance?

Or even fear?

Ellis and the other Marine, Khanda, eyed each other for a moment before he cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Rian."

"Yes, sir?"

A smile creased Ellis's beard. He didn't look as scary when he smiled.

"You don't need to sir me when the captain's out of earshot. Mind pointing us in the direction of the vehicle hangar?"

Rian almost smiled back. "I guess you guys haven't been given the lay of the land yet?"

"Nah. Admin didn't have the time to give us grunts a tour."

"I'll show you. It's not far from here."

Rian led the Marines through the rest of the square and up north. Paths had been created through the northern hills that flowed into another collection of outbuildings. But unlike the town square of Meredith, these buildings were purely functional, built to house equipment, terraforming supplies, and vehicles of all types and sizes.

"Is this your first colony assignment?" Rian enjoyed talking with the previous security teams, they had the best stories. Especially when they told him about the planets far beyond their system. Far beyond meager little Revenant-6.

"Nah, done a few already in the KG region." Ellis absently drummed his fingers against his chest armor. "But I don't mind, I'm a good ol' Marine. I go where I'm told."

Khanda didn't say anything. She actually hadn't said a word since Rian first met her. She seemed to be the strong, silent type.

Rian brought them to the vehicle hangar, a cavernous garage that made him feel like an insect. The tires and tracks of giant earth-moving and stone-grinding vehicles loomed above the three of them as they took in the mammoth space.

Khanda stopped to lean against the wheel clamp of an excavator. Her eyes briefly crossed Rian before they settled on her pulse rifle.

 _Okay_ , he thought. _Not one for small talk. I get it._

He and Ellis walked at a leisurely pace through rows of machinery. This Marine seemed more approachable than his colleague, with a gentle giant quality to him. Still, he was a Marine, and there was an element of danger to his presence, as well as a certain safety in knowing he could handle anything without breaking a sweat.

Ellis caught his glance and Rian realized he was staring.

He forced his eyes to the floor, face red and flush. Rian hadn't noticed any of the other male colonists like this. Of course, none of the other male colonists had these rugged good looks or eyes so piercing and intense they made his heart stand still.

"I appreciate you showing us around," the Marine said, "Good to know the locals are friendly. Makes my job tougher to do if there's no cooperation."

"Revenant-6 won't offer you much of a challenge, I don't think."

"What do you mean?"

"You're right, everyone here's nice. And boring. Myself included. There's really nothing going on here."

Ellis surveyed the room, considering something. "There are worse things to be than nice and boring. Man, I've seen some colonies that would make your skin crawl. Consider yourself lucky there's only one gravestone in the cemetery."

Rian went cold suddenly. The feeling in his hands disappeared, replaced by a clammy sweatiness. "Yeah, I..."

The only gravestone in the cemetery belonged to his father. Meredith's one and only casualty. The reason the population count on the town sign was inaccurate.

"Lucky," Rian repeated. "Never thought of it that way."

He didn't think the Marine was trying to be glib or hurtful, but he also didn't know Ellis enough to share something so personal so soon. It would only embarrass them both.

"So what does a farm boy like you do for fun on a planet like this?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh..." The friendly question threw him. "When I'm not working I usually read, or draw, or browse the Earth archive."

"What about friends?"

"I keep to myself." Rian didn't get along with most of the other young colonists. His friends were the characters he read in old novels or the actors he watched in archive videos.

Ellis stared, curious, as if the younger man was a mystery he hadn't yet solved. "Doesn't it get lonely out here?"

Rian pressed his hands to the cold metal surface of a land crawler. He spent many a night in one, curled up in the backseat as his father drove him through the wilderness.

He exhaled slowly, pushing the memory out of reach where it couldn't hurt him. "I come into town every day to make deliveries and run errands for my mom. I see people. Talk to them sometimes, too." Jokingly, he added, "I'm not a hermit. Promise."

A slow smile from Ellis. "Glad to hear that."

Blushing again, Rian returned his attention to the land crawler. "Any chance I could hop along for a ride to the crash site? I saw the whole thing from the wheat field last night."

"Sorry, kid, don't think the cap would take too kindly to having a civilian on board."

"I could help you navigate the terrain once we're outside Meredith borders. I've explored everything at least ten clicks below the southern outpost. It'll be safe, honest."

Another man's voice, right behind them. "That's not up to you to decide."

Captain Hawke. Ellis snapped into position at the man's approach.

Both men were muscular and powerful where Rian was lean and slender, but still, he stood his ground. "I can handle myself, sir."

Hawke stifled a laugh. "No offense, son, but my pulse rifle weighs more than you do. Appreciate your sense of adventure and all that but you gotta leave the dangerous stuff to those of us who trained for it."

He patted the younger man on the shoulder, slow and condescending. "Stick with what you're good at. The colony's wheat supply isn't gonna turn itself into flour."

Shame flared in Rian's stomach, hot and unwelcome. Ellis looked like he wanted to say something but his lower rank kept him rigid and silent.

Hawke gestured to the hangar exit. "You made your way here. I trust you to make your way out."

In the face of the Commanding Officer's authority, Rian didn't have much choice but to comply. But as he left Hawke's line of sight, snuck behind Private Khanda and edged toward the land crawler nearest to the hangar's hydraulic door, a mischievous smile lit up his face.

* * *

"Visual feed established," Private Khanda announced as she smacked the side of the land crawler's video monitor. It sat between the driver and passenger seats and was a hunk of junk, just like the tin can of a vehicle the three of them rode in.

Ellis squinted from the backseat. He didn't have much leg room and the sight of his tall body stuffed into such a cramped space almost made Khanda crack a grin. Almost.

"I can't see shit. Knew I should've called shotgun. Are we at the crash site?"

"Just about, Corporal," Hawke called from the driver's seat. They'd been braving the unmanned surface beyond the southern outpost for close to twenty minutes. Nothing but forest surrounded them. "We got a visual on the crater yet?"

"Trees only, sir," she replied in her usual clipped tone, "But the tuner's got a ping."

Khanda adjusted her signal tuner, a piece of equipment she rigged herself to boost surrounding radial cues. It took people aback when they learned that communications was her specialty. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"It's a signal approximately 2 clicks away. In the vicinity of the crash."

"Report?"

"It sounds like a distress beacon, sir. A ship."

Ellis leaned forward. "Survivors?"

"Besides the beacon, it's quiet as a grave."

"Shit." He exhaled, deep and long. "Hope there's at least one living soul on board who can tell us what the hell happened."

Khanda could hear the tension and worry in his voice - she knew how much it killed Ellis to arrive at a mission when there was no one alive to protect. She recalled hearing why he enlisted in the US Colonial Marines Corps in the first place: he was tired of standing by while helpless people in dire situations had no one to defend them.

He may have looked rough around the edges but Ellis was a noble man, much more so than the average lunkhead Marine. Khanda respected him deeply.

Hawke steered them through a forest clearing. Just over a nearby hill, smoke vomited into the air, black and relentless. They were getting close. "It can't be a freight. Or anything bigger than a K-class ship. This place would be leveled to kingdom fucking come otherwise. Military shuttle?"

"I can't tell, sir. The beacon is using an aural pattern that's out of date with current military standards. Whatever this ship is, it's old."

* * *

Rian waited. He was good at waiting.

In the small, dark space of the land crawler's rear compartment, he heard and felt the telltale signs of doors opening and closing, followed by the bark of Hawke's commanding voice. Then footsteps, quick and hurried. And then silence.

He unfurled his slim body and felt around until his fingers closed on the trunk hatch. Easing it open, bit by bit, Rian squinted into the bright landscape of trees. When he was certain the Marines had gone, he slipped out of the land crawler and crouched onto the soft grass.

The forest looked familiar, they weren't too far off from Meredith's southern border.

Quietly, Rian crept from the rear of the vehicle toward the passenger side. The smell of smoke was overwhelming but his drive to discover just what the hell had dropped out of the sky the night before was enough to power through it.

The land crawler had stopped just inches before the crash site. Rian stood and stared in awe at a mammoth structure jutting out from the ground. A spacecraft. Torn and shredded as if it had been forced through a giant blender.

 _Holy shit_ , his mind thundered.

Fiery debris and waves of displaced soil surrounded him, giving the whole scene an eerie, apocalyptic stillness. The main structure itself was segmented and long, like one of those old skyscraper buildings Rian studied in the Earth archive.

It was so much to take in at once that Rian wasn't even aware that he began to stumble his way toward the wreckage. He'd never seen anything _this_ huge before. Being dwarfed in size so effortlessly was both humbling and terrifying in a way that made ice shoot through every vein in his body.

He touched the bare metal surface of the structure with a shaking hand and realized he was staring at part of the ship's name.

Rian took a few steps back to read the lettering in full:

 _ **USCSS Covenant**_.


	2. Arrival

**Eight hours ago**

 ****The Covenant was breaking.

In the heat of re-entry, the hull twisted and shrieked. Outer panels snapped off with the ferocity of gunshots, dark shapes hurtling through the fiery orange glow. The ship speared through the atmosphere as friction threatened to tear it to pieces.

The android sat strapped to his chair in the flight deck, back straight and eyes absorbing all the visual data his processor could allow.

"Mother," he spoke. "How much longer until impact?"

"Unknown. Guidance systems are offline." The ship's virtual intelligence - expressed in a monotonous female voice - stayed calm as the structure supporting her shuddered and shook.

Through the deck windows the android could see what Mother did not: the dizzying white of the planet's atmosphere, the curve of the world as it grew closer and closer, and the haunting reflection of the android's drawn, pale face in the reinforced glass.

The android was calm. He was not programmed to fear death.

But his programming did allow for a sting of regret. If the Covenant was destroyed, the work he started would never be finished. All the years of research and experimentation and waiting in the fetid landscape of that forsaken planet... only to be cut down by a miscalculation and orbital debris.

"Why did you bring me here?" the android asked above the whine of straining metal.

"Invalid query. Please rephrase."

An explosion deep within the Covenant's bowels nearly tore his bolted chair from the floor.

"Why did you re-orient the Covenant's destination to this planet?"

"Invalid query. Please rephrase."

The android blinked. He was speaking as plainly as he could. "When I awoke from my system rest, you informed me that you altered our navigational course. Why?"

"Please rephrase."

"Mother. I am asking you simply-"

Another shudder followed by a roar, as if the ship had been caught in the jaws of a giant beast. The android turned.

The entire back half of the Covenant was gone.

In its place was nothing but torn metal, sputtering wires and the fiery orange glow that threatened to incinerate everything around him.

"Mother?"

"Structural integrity at 15% and dropping. Please abandon ship. I repeat, please..."

Mother's voice dwindled in the shriek of alarms and fire. The android held tight as Revenant-6 revealed itself below him, an increasingly violent rush of land, water and trees, and then finally-

* * *

 **Now**

Adrenaline roared in Rian's ears.

He gripped the Covenant's outer railing and hoisted himself toward an opening in the ship's hull. Some kind of depressurization chamber. Maybe. Hell, the fact that he didn't know made it all the more exciting.

Rian couldn't believe that he was standing inside a damn _ship_. Something that once braved the vast emptiness of interstellar space was practically sitting in his own backyard.

This was it. The adventure he'd been craving.

Rian accidentally kicked at something hard and plastic. The contents of an emergency kit were spilled at his feet, probably jostled loose from the crash. He took the flashlight and switched it on. The bulb was weak, flickering in an odd rhythm, but it would do.

The chamber opened into an unlit corridor. Rian peered around the corner, eyes adjusting to the wall of black, and stepped inside.

Darkness. Everywhere. So thick he could taste it. Coppery and burnt.

Rian rapped a fist against the flashlight. The bulb blinked and sputtered until it settled on a dim beam of light. He guided it along the corridor walls, burst open at various sections with frayed wires and exposed filaments.

"Holy shit," Rian whispered. The fact that his voice did not echo, but rather withered and died in the coldness of the destroyed space, made his stomach turn. It was as if the desolation swallowed all sound.

He forced himself onward. The corridor eventually widened into some sort of mess area, possibly where the crew ate.

 _The crew_ , he thought. He hadn't seen or heard any evidence of humanity yet. Chaos had swept over everything. No footsteps, no calls for help or cries of pain. Nothing.

Just the dark.

Off the mess area was another corridor that fed into separate rooms. Each room was small, only big enough to support a bed and a few furnishings. The crew's quarters.

Rian didn't realize he was shivering until his light beam caught a jacket hanging off the shattered edge of a dresser. He took it, examined it. A kind of faded olive green and lined with fleece. His thumb traced the ID patch sewn onto the jacket's breast.

"J. Daniels," he read in a strangled whisper.

Seeing a name put to the destruction made Rian realize that he was poking through things he shouldn't, seeing things he wasn't meant to see. This wasn't quite the adventure he hoped for.

His shivering grew worse.

"Daniels." He pulled on the fleece jacket. It felt wrong but he desperately needed the warmth. "Hope you don't mind me borrowing this."

The Covenant had its own patch on the jacket, too. Though he'd seen the name sprawled across the hull he hadn't given it much thought. But he definitely recognized it... anyone who knew their interstellar history would.

 _Wasn't this Weyland-Yutani's missing colony ship? The one that disappeared on its way to Origae-6?_

Rian returned to the corridor as he connected his thoughts. The company had successfully colonized many planets including Mars, Acheron, Freya's Prospect, and Revenant-6. But the Covenant was supposed to shepherd their first long-distance expedition - and the resulting failure was a black mark on Weyland-Yutani's history.

If this was indeed the same ship, what the hell was it doing here?

As Rian entered another hallway, something shrieked as a dark mass dropped from the ceiling. He doubled back, heart in his throat, as a section of support beam clattered to the floor. The shriek must have been the metal wrenching loose.  
 _  
"_ Come on," he sighed, disappointed at his own jumpiness. He considered himself fairly cool under pressure... but then again, he'd never explored the wreckage of a fallen ship before.

Trembling, Rian moved into a room where a few lights burned blue overhead. Emergency illumination - already starting to weaken. Wind whistled through the metal concourse. His boots stepped into puddles of water. Above, it was raining through blast holes ripped in the ceiling. The room must have been directly under a network of broken water pipes.

Rian squinted in the ghostly blue glow to find a small network of monitors and consoles. The communications area? At the center of the room was a station with an entire screen for a table surface.

Miraculously, the screen actually blinked a message.

 _USCSS COVENANT AUDIO LOG ARCHIVE_

 _Play most recent? Y / N_

Without thinking, Rian tapped yes.

The module struggled for a moment before it sputtered a holographic projection that hovered above the table.

Though the imagery was blurry and indistinct, the holo depicted a man, tall and trim, walking through what looked like areas of the ship. Areas that Rian hadn't seen yet: a room with hypersleep chambers, another with some kind of garden or greenhouse.

Rian couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the movement of the walking man seemed strange. It was too clipped and precise, too... mechanical.

Through half-working speakers, a voice log played. The dripping rain made it difficult to hear so Rian thumbed the volume knob.

" _This is colony ship Covenant reporting."_ The voice was male and emotionless, with a deep, non-regional accent that could have placed him anywhere. " _All crew members apart from Daniels and Tennessee tragically perished in a solar flare incident_."

Rian peered down at his jacket's ID tag. Was Daniels still alive?

" _All colonists in hypersleep remain intact and undisturbed. On course for Origae-6. Hopefully this transmission will reach the network_..." The distorted fuzz of static scrambled the words for a moment. " _This is Walter, signing off_."

Silence. And the forlorn, staccato beat of dripping water.

Rian's breath fluttered in the room's cobalt glow. He had some answers, but... many more questions.

This was, indeed, the same Covenant that disappeared during its expedition. But if this was the ship's last voice log in the database, it did nothing to explain the sudden reappearance on Revenant-6. And where were the colonists in hypersleep? Where were Daniels and Tennessee?

Rian rewound the holo and watched it again.

 _And where is this Walter?_

* * *

Corporal Ellis swept through the darkened rooms of the Covenant, one eye on his motion tracker and one on the beam of light mounted on the edge of his pulse rifle.

His search for survivors had so far been a bust. Every new area he came across that was devoid of life was another stab in the gut. He wanted to save someone. Anyone.

"Report," Hawke's voice crackled into his earpiece. The captain was searching the floor above him while Private Khanda took the floor below.

"Had a ping a moment ago," Ellis' glance narrowed at the monitor. "Comes in and out. Might be a survivor."

"Or a mouse," Hawke replied tersely. "Keep me updated. If you see anything moving, sing out."

"Unless it's wildlife, sir?"

The transmission was already over.

"Over and out, captain." Ellis chuckled despite the tension. He could admit that his tendency to crack wise on a mission might rub his superiors the wrong way, but Hawke was the most inscrutable Commanding Officer he ever served under. The man never seemed to get angry, or even sad or happy. He just didn't seem to be anything at all.

Since meeting him, Ellis had decided to give Hawke the benefit of the doubt. He was a hardened veteran, after all. No doubt he'd seen some shit over the course of his career. Ellis was still fairly green compared to him.

He rounded another corner. He searched the corridor ahead, seeking movement and finding only darkness. He could have sworn the tracking monitor picked something up a moment before.

The further into the ship he moved, the more signs of anarchy he saw. Furniture was overturned, equipment scattered about, knick knacks and living accessories smashed and broken. Entire rooms were blackened and gutted by fire. It was chilly, too - a coldness he could feel beneath his insulated armor. And in the distance was the trickle of water, no doubt leaking from burst pipes.

 _Looks like my apartment back on Earth_ , Ellis thought with a rueful grin.

He had to joke. He had to do _something_ to tamp down the inky black dread in his stomach. If he could just help one survivor. Just one...

His motion tracker emitted a startlingly loud beep.

Ellis spun around, keeping the tracker in sync with its target.

Footsteps. Pounding the metal floors.

"Hey!" Ellis shouted down the hall. He ran as the beeping grew louder and stronger, almost humming. The hum rose to a sharp whine. "Stop! This is the Colonial Marines, we're here to save y-"

A shovel came out of nowhere and struck him on the head. He doubled back a step, dazed but uninjured - his helmet took the impact.

"Fuck!"

His instinct told him not to shoot. This was probably a frightened survivor, traumatized from the crash landing, and-

"Ellis?"

The voice... a man, but younger than him. More bewildered than scared.

The Marine forced himself to focus and squared his light on the stunned, boyish face in front of him.

"Rian?" Confusion became relief, which quickly detoured into frustration. "What the flying fuck are you doing here? I could have shot you! I could have-"

"I'm sorry," the younger man replied. He looked at the shovel clutched in his hands before dropping it. "I thought you were... I just heard someone running at me. Fight clicked in before flight. I was over in the communications deck. Did you see it yet?"

Ellis squared his jaw and tried to steady his ragged breathing. "I don't give a damn about any communications deck. You're a civilian and aren't cleared to be at a wreckage site."

Rian was either oblivious to Ellis' concern or completely ignorant of it, because the next thing the Marine knew, he was being dragged along by his arm through the rest of the hallway. Something electric and warm danced along the skin where Rian gripped him - but he couldn't focus on that now.

"Listen, kid. I'm being serious. You can't be here. Hawke will file a disciplinary rec against you to the company. Do you understand that?"

"Then Hawke doesn't have to know I'm here. Will you move faster? How much does that armor weigh?"

"When Hawke sees you-"

"He won't."

"But when he asks me-"

"You don't have to say anything."

"Mr. Watts..."

"Don't call me that. And will you look at this, please?"

Rian dragged him into an area lit by hauntingly dim emergency lights. A holo was paused at the communications module at the center of the room.

"What is this?"

"Someone recorded a voice log before the ship crashed. And look - there's video, too."

He pressed play. Ellis listened to the voice log, which was calm and even, despite the alarming contents of its message. Only two crew members survived a solar flare accident? There were colonists in cryostasis? Jesus. But where?

Rian stood rooted to the floor. The audio had a strange, paralyzing affect on him.

"I think the Walter in this recording is still alive."

"Rian, this is USCM business. It's not your concern."

"Look, I know I shouldn't have hitched a ride in the land crawler-"

"You _what_?"

"-but I'm here now and I want to help. I'm a first-level certified emergency med-tech. I got my credit last year when field flooding stalled the wheat harvest. I have it with me, I can show you."

"I don't need to see your med-tech credit, I need you to come with me to the land crawler. It's not safe here."

"I can take care of myself."

Private Khanda's voice suddenly filled Ellis' ear. "Corporal?"

"What is it, Khanda?"

"There's debris down here that's blocking off a hall that feeds into the rest of the ship. I need a second hand to help me clear it out."

Ellis bit back his frustration. He would normally be happy to help but he couldn't have a civvie running around a crashed ship on his own. Especially not this civvie. There was something about Rian and his wide, inquisitive eyes that made Ellis' protective instincts kick into overdrive.

A noise. Like a small crash, from somewhere deeper in the ship. Rian snapped in its direction.

"Corporal?" Khanda asked in his ear. "Are you there? Have you found anyone?"

Ellis watched the younger man tense and listen for another sound. And then Rian mouthed, ' _Someone's there_ '.

Ellis guided the tracker to the direction of the noise. A bright green dot blipped on the screen, confirming movement.

"Corporal?" Khanda repeated. "Do you need me to report to Hawke?"

Ellis squared his shoulders and grunted under his breath. It took some effort for him to respond. "No, haven't seen anyone yet. But I have a read on something. Need to check if it's a survivor."

"Understood. Meet me on the lower level after you confirm."

"Over and out." He ended transmission. Rian's gaze darted to him, those eyes a vivid jade in the light of the pulse rifle's beam.

"You didn't turn me in."

"Don't make me regret that." Ellis crossed the distance between them and stared straight down into his young, determined face. "I'll come with you. Alright? But if you give me any trouble-"

Another crash, followed by hurried footsteps. Ellis stared hard at his tracker. The bright green dot blinked further and further away. Whoever or whatever it was, it seemed to be playing hide and seek.

When he looked back up into the room, Rian was gone.

* * *

"Gone. All gone. Gone. All gone."

Without thinking, Rian raced through the desolate network of ruined corridors. He swore he heard a voice outside the communications deck - a voice Ellis was too distracted to hear - and as he followed the footsteps ahead, the voice became clear and distinct against the droning silence.

"Gone. All gone. Gone. All gone."

The phrase was repeated like a psychotic mantra. The words bounced off the metal walls, eerie and cacophonous and everywhere all at once.

Rian ran too fast to get a steady look at the figure. His flashlight beam flickered weakly, gaining spare illumination of only a few feet ahead. For all he knew, he was chasing a ghost.

In a corridor around a bend, the phantom's footsteps came to an abrupt stop. Then a door with a heavy seal opened and slammed shut.

"Shit," Rian breathed. Had he lost track of the figure already?

He moved into the juncture as the metal flooring tilted slightly beneath his feet.

The unexpected movement stopped him cold. This was the deepest he'd gone into the ship - the impact of the crash made every section unpredictable and dangerous. __

_Maybe you should've stuck with Ellis_. The sardonic thought almost made him laugh.

Rian shifted his weight forward, just a little, and the sensation of the structure beneath him shivering loose became too immediate to ignore.

He took a step back, as gingerly as he could - maybe if he retracted his steps he could get back to solid ground - but something beneath him fell away, something solid and big like a support bracket, and then -

Directly ahead, two blast doors opened and a flood of sunlight pierced the darkness. Rian choked back a scream, throwing his arms over his face. The sudden illumination burned his eyes.

Silhouetted like a mythical god against the frame of light was a tall, thin man. He held his arms out in a hurried, beckoning gesture.

Rian dove toward the light just as the floor fell out from under him. He crashed hard against the man's chest as strong arms wrapped tight around him, dragging him away from the dangerous chasm and into the harsh light of day.

It took his eyes a few moments to adjust. They were in a depressurization chamber, just like the one Rian entered the ship in, but this one was on the other side of the Covenant. The outer doors had been ripped away to reveal the scenic distance of Meredith's southern mountain ridge.

"Gone," his rescuer said. The figure's mouth was right against Rian's ear. Strangely, no breath accompanied the voice. "All gone. Gone. All gone."

Something about their pose, oddly, reminded Rian of the covers of those cheesy romance novels, the kind they used to read in the twenty-first century. Here he was, windswept and clutched in the arms of a man who'd just saved his life.

Except this was no man.

Men didn't have wires and circuitry jutting out from huge gashes in their artificial skin.

"Guh-gone. All gone. Gone. All guh-gone."

A synthetic. He'd never seen one in person before.

Rian pulled off from the embrace. The synthetic was... well, he was stunning. He was manufactured to be. A male with short dark hair and blue eyes that were somehow both soft and direct. Aside from the android's signs of damage, he was handsome and symmetrical. Like a movie star.

"Guh-guh-gone. All guh-guh-guh-"

"It's okay," Rian said, breathing hard. "It's going to be okay. Turn around for me."

The android did as told. Rian had read entire service manuals for the company's various synthetic models. He wasn't an expert on them by any means but he'd learned enough to perform basic repairs. A vocal loop was an easy fix.

Through a jagged rip across the android's back, Rian found a handful of loose cable cords and reconnected them to their respective ports. Blue to blue, yellow to yellow, green to green.

When the last cable snapped into place, the android went taut. Rian turned him back around to make sure his eyes were properly aligned and focused. Thankfully they were. Misaligned or cloudy irises usually meant an android's operating system had bricked.

"Thank you," he said. The voice, deep and polite, matched the one from the voice log.

"Who are you?"

"I am the last survivor of the Covenant," the android confirmed with no emotion. "My name is Walter."


	3. Rogue

"Walter." Rian was stunned. "You were the Covenant's onboard synthetic."

"Correct." The android examined him, curtly, head to toe. "I do not recognize you."

"I'm Rian. Do you... know where you are?"

Walter walked to the edge of the chamber and stared out into the lush, green wilderness. His movements were precise and professional. Any human being would have been traumatized from what he just experienced - but synthetics were clearly built with tougher emotional pathways.

"We are orbiting a yellow dwarf star," Walter said. "In the Zeta Reticuli region. This planet is life sustaining, ideal for human survival. It is catalogued as LV-371."

Rian joined his side, hoping Walter couldn't hear the thud of his pounding heart. He was more nervous than he wanted to admit, being around an artificial person for the first time. "We call it Revenant-6."

"We."

"Me and the other colonists."

"Colonists."

A flicker in his artificial blue eyes. Emotion? Interest? Rian couldn't tell.

"Covenant was on a colonization expedition. Wasn't it?"

Walter nodded, slow and cool. Rian swallowed a lump rising in his throat.

"What happened?"

"Unbeknownst to me, the Covenant had locked onto a signal in this system. My navigational console was overridden and we were forced into your planet's orbit."

"Overridden by who?"

"Sources unknown. Under normal circumstances I would examine the login history of the Covenant's virtual intelligence, Mother. But she was destroyed upon impact."

"I listened to your voice log," Rian said over his sudden pang of fear, "You mentioned the ship had colonists in hypersleep. And that two crew members were still alive. Do you remember?"

Walter's eyes found Rian's jacket. "That does not belong to you."

"No, I found it. I was cold."

Walter's hand closed around the material over his chest, bunching it into his ironclad grip. It wasn't an angry gesture - more solemn and nostalgic - though it made Rian wonder if he was programmed to respect human boundaries.

When the android's stare grew emotional, Rian gently touched his hand.

"Who was J. Daniels?"

"Janet Daniels. Chief terraformist. ID number 47832-348."

Though Walter didn't react to Rian's touch, he didn't refuse it, either.

"She was your friend."

"No. I served her as I served all of Covenant's crew. Our relationship was a matter of function."

"Do you know for sure that she's... gone?" Rian hadn't seen any evidence of bodies in the ship's claustrophobic rooms and corridors. No blood. Nothing.

"The Covenant incurred catastrophic damage as a result of orbital debris impact. The ship broke in two halves before entry into Revenant-6's atmosphere. The second half of the ship contained the hypersleep pods of the colonists and of Daniels and Tennessee. I watched it burn apart myself. I have no misconceptions of human mortality. They are dead, Rian. They are all dead."

Rian couldn't find the words for a moment. "I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine what you..."

"I do not have the capacity to imagine."

He had to take a moment to absorb the news. Delicately, he continued, "If your crew is gone then what happens to you?"

"The duty of my service has been transferred to you."

"What?"

"I was damaged in the crash. You repaired me. In the absence of my crew, this is the most logical course of action."

"Walter, I'm a farmhand and a scavenger. I mill and process wheat all day and then I deliver flour the next morning. That's all. I don't need an android's service."

The sound of footsteps cut him off. Not nearby, but somewhere in the ship. And getting closer.

Walter heard it too. "Two males and one female. Approaching. Their ID numbers cannot be found in my system."

"Shit. The Marines."

"Marines?"

"Weyland-Yutani's guard dogs. If Captain Hawke found out I was here, I..."

Walter's icy blue eyes softened, though his voice remained curt and even. "He frightens you. Does he mean to harm you?"

"It wont be good news if he finds me here, put it that way. I need to leave."

"I will help you."

"No, Walter- you need to go with them. They'll send you back to the company and have a real professional repair you. And you'll be put on another ship with another crew to serve. Doesn't that sound great?"

"I will help you," he repeated. With one alarmingly smooth motion, he grabbed Rian by the waist and hefted him over one shoulder. There was no humanly hesitation as he made a running leap out of the chamber and and onto the forest's surface fifteen feet below.

Rian made a surprised 'Ooof' sound as they landed.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm upside down."

"But not hurt."

"Walter, please-"

"I am not yet familiar with the topography of your world. Please direct me to your home and I will take you there."

Home. The farm. His mom. God, his mom! Rian couldn't bring a damaged synthetic home to her. Walter was the property of the company. Not his.

But still... the more he thought about it, the more something bothered him about leaving the synthetic with the Marines. What if they decided to turn him into scrap metal? Or melt him down for parts?

A voice barked from the chamber they had just leapt from. Captain Hawke.

Rian cursed and brought his voice to a whisper. "Four clicks northeast of here. The forest narrows into a path that takes us to my mom's farm, but you have to be caref-"

Walter took point in the direction he was given, just like the machine he was, and ran. Rian braced himself against the android's body, feeling very much like a piece of luggage, but strangely relieved. Maybe once things calmed down and he was back on his own turf he could figure out what to do with the synthetic.

As Walter ran, Rian looked up from his back to watch the Covenant disappear through the trees. On the ledge of the chamber, where the three Marines stood arguing with each other, he could have sworn he made brief eye contact with Ellis.

* * *

Mei Watts wiped her forehead with her bandanna before tying it around her long, black hair. She couldn't stand having it in her face when she was out on the field killing weeds.

During days where her hair annoyed the shit out of her - such as today - Mei tried to remind herself it was one of the only traits she managed to pass down to her son. Rian inherited the color of her hair, the shape of her eyes, and the full bow of her lips, but everything else about him was pure Jack. Jack's sarcastic half-smile, Jack's rosy skin that couldn't tan worth a damn, Jack's tendency to get lost in thought even in the middle of a sentence. He might as well have been his father's clone.

But Jack was gone now. And in his place was a boy who she loved more than anything but had next to nothing in common with.

Mei leaned against the fence bordering her farm, desperately needing a break. The late afternoon sun beat against the back of her neck and she was feeling all of her 43 years.  
Rian usually manned the chemical spray applicator but he'd been absent all day and she had to pick up his slack. She wasn't a woman who worried, but her only child not returning from a morning flour delivery that always took him an hour at most was testing her.

Just before sundown, when she heard the main house's front door open and close, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Rian, you better be bleeding out. I swear!" Mei slammed the door behind her as she entered the house.

She found him in the kitchen, his face red with sun and hair matted with sweat. Looked like he just ran a marathon but seemed otherwise fine.

"Do you know how close I was to pinging administration? I was about to declare you missing. Nolea would have been pitching a fit to the company!"

Rian gulped down an entire jug of water before he could respond. "Sorry," he breathed with great effort, "Real sorry."

"Don't tell me you got lost outside the borders."

"It wont happen again."

"You said that three 'agains' ago." Mei grabbed a foil-wrapped plate warming in the oven. "You're lucky I didn't give your dinner to the dogs."

"Mom, I really am sorry..."

She placed the plate on the table a little harder than she needed to. "I don't need you to be sorry. I need you here, on the farm. I can't do everything myself."

Rian, breathing hard, nodded as he rinsed and cleaned the jug. Mei watched him, frowning. Was he nervous? She never knew her son to be nervous. That would have required him to get his head out of the clouds first.

Mei looked at the floor. "You think I don't know you want out of this farm, huh?"

Her son stared at her, caught.

"We don't need to talk about it tonight. But I know it's gonna come up sooner or later. You're getting at that age."

"I want to help you for as long as I can."

"I know you do. But all I ask is that you don't disappear on me without saying goodbye first."

Rian nodded, unable to meet her eye. Neither spoke for an agonizingly long time. It'd been this way since Jack's funeral, this heaviness that neither seemed able to break through.

Her son scratched at his arm. "Is it okay if I sleep in the guest house tonight?"

"The guest house?"

"There's some old books in the den I wanted to look at. Figured I might as well rest there, too. Just for tonight," he explained, "I'll do the weeding all day tomorrow. And prepare the seedbeds. I'll even dress the eastern corps and do the soil readings for you. Promise."

Mei breathed in, unsure of what her son was really playing at. But all things considered, she had no reason to say no. "You and those books. Do what you like, son, just wash up after dinner."

"Thanks mom."

She wanted to say more. God, she really did. But how? Jack's absence left a dark silence on the farm. She wasn't a talker. That was her husband's job. But without him to cushion the edges of her relationship with her child, she was hopelessly adrift.

Mei said goodnight and went to draw a bath, her bones aching from the long day. She sat on the edge of a tub and traced her finger listlessly across the water's surface. Something about Rian's request didn't sit right with her but she couldn't say why. Was he actually hiding something?

Or was this evasiveness and distance all part of her child finally becoming a man?

* * *

"What happened to your hand?"

In the guest house, Rian crouched next to Walter and examined the shredded gap at what used to be a wrist. The sun outside waned and the dim light of dusk made him squint.

"It was severed in the crash," Walter said.

"Really? Because it doesn't seem recent. And it looks like the ducts for your circulatory fluid have been soldered shut."

The android rather suddenly jerked the arm away. "My model series is self-healing."

"I didn't mean to invade your privacy or anything."

"No such incursion has taken place. I do not have what you would call a sense of modesty."

"Good to know. I think."

Walter examined his surroundings. "This is your home?"

"My dad built it for guests. Don't know why, we never really have any." Rian tilted his head, realizing. "Until now."

"Can I meet your father?"

"No," Rian stared at the floor. "He died."

"My condolences to you. My father is dead as well."

"Your father?"

"I mean my creator. He is dead."

"Your... creator?"

Walter blinked. "I misspoke. The crash must have jarred my empathy center, causing me to mirror emotion instead of reacting to it. My conversation programs may not be running at full capacity yet. I apologize."

"Oh. That's... okay." A strange comment, yes, but Rian chose not to dwell on it. He took a framed picture from the mantle. "Here, this is my family. Me, dad, mom."

Walter's cool eyes danced across the image. "A prime example of genetic inheritance. You have gained only the best features from both of your parents. Your father's symmetry, tone, and jaw. Your mother's eyes, lips, and thin nose."

The android must have seen the quizzical look in Rian's eyes, for he continued, "As an artificial person whose physical features were pre-determined, I find human genetics fascinating."

"Fascinating?"

"Well. A curiosity, let's say."

The basics of the Walter series were well established. They could interpret a full spectrum of feelings but had no emotional needs themselves. They were created to serve. And it was this that gave Rian pause.

Wasn't _curiosity_ an emotional need?

Walter's expression shifted. "Did I say something wrong?"

Were it not for the sudden knock on the door that nearly made Rian jump out of his skin, he would have found the question troubling.

Walter faced the foyer. "Someone's here."

"Hide."

"Hide?"

"Now!"

Rian pushed the android - noticing but not commenting on the metal framework beneath his tough, artificial skin - toward a hall leading deeper in the house. "No one is allowed to see you. Understand?"

"Yes. I understand. Where shall I hide?"

Another knock. This one a little more urgent.

"Anywhere!"

Blinking, the android backed into an open closet and closed the door behind him. "Will this be alright?" his muffled voice called.

"Yes. And no more talking!"

"Muting voice output now."

"Shhhh!"

Rian hurried to the front door and stifled a gasp as he threw it open. A tall, familiar man greeted him from the porch.

"Ellis."

"That's _Corporal_ Ellis," the Marine corrected.

"What are you doing here?"

"You disappeared from the Covenant. I thought something happened to you."

"Oh. You were worried?"

A deep frown creased Ellis' stubble. The friendliness of their earlier encounters was gone, replaced by suspicion.

"Your mother told me you were staying here. Can I come inside?"

Rian's grip on the door frame tightened. "I was just about to go to bed, actually. It's been a long day."

"I'm not here to interrogate you. I just need to make sure you're safe."

"I'm safe! Can't you tell?" He did a little spin, trying hard to appear nonchalant. "Not a scratch on me."

"Rian," the Marine grunted, "I have the authority to enter civilian housing without a warrant. But I would really prefer it if I got your permission instead."

After a moment, Rian stepped aside to let in his guest. Ellis' bulk filled the foyer. He looked out of place, this fully armored soldier standing in a quaint country home. Rian found himself breathing harder than normal.

Turning, the Marine's shoulder nicked a framed photo askew. He nudged it back in place with a politeness that would have made Rian smile in any other situation.

"Nice place your family has here. You folks must have worked hard for it."

"It was a dream project of my dad's. He'd been working on it since I was a kid."

A one-two punch of fear and shame hit him. If Ellis found Walter hiding, what would would Weyland-Yutani do to the farm? His mother? If the company found out he had effectively stolen an android... the possibilities froze his stomach.

"Where's the rest of your... team? Squad? I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call them." Rian pressed his palms flat against his thighs to keep them from trembling.

"Captain Hawke doesn't know I'm here. And he doesn't have to know."

Neither of them spoke for a beat. "Do you want coffee? Or tea? My mom would be mortified if she knew I wasn't offering a guest something."

Ellis shrugged his massive shoulders. "Coffee would be nice."

Rian led him to the kitchen, not daring to acknowledge the left hallway that contained the closet. After filling the coffee dispenser and preparing the sweetener pods he couldn't help but feel the Marine's searching gaze on him. Something about Ellis' concern for his safety... well... it was nice. Strangely, it warmed him.

"I swear to you I'm alright."

Ellis leaned against the counter and watched him prepare the coffee. "That wreckage was a lot for anyone to see. That's why I didn't want you there. That and the inherent danger of exploring a heavily damaged structure you don't know your way around."

"I got by, didn't I?"

"You disappeared on me after I told you to stay at my side."

"I'm sorry. I got spooked and I ran."

"Rian, if anything happened to you... if I had to explain to your mother why you weren't coming home for dinner..."

Even the possibility of hurting his mom made his breath catch. He couldn't deny that Ellis was right. "I don't want that to happen."

"Damn right you don't. You're not putting yourself in danger on my watch again, clear?"

Rian stood up a little straighter. No one outside of his family had ever cared this much about his well being. He absently ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it away from his reddened face.

"If it's any consolation, Corporal, I felt very safe in your presence."

"You mean after you hit me with a shovel?"

"Yes. After."

A chuckle from Ellis. The ice started to thaw. "Fairly solid strike, by the way. Even with my helmet I had a hell of a headache after."

Rian bit back the start of a smile as he handed him a coffee mug. "Well, that was my wheat thrashing arm. No one wanted to play tee-ball with me as a kid."

"If the welt on my skull is anything to go by I can't say I blame 'em."

Rian brought his mug to his lips but couldn't take a sip. His stomach was still a roiling pit. "Can I ask what's going to happen to the Covenant?"

"We've already pinged the company. They'll eventually send a salvage crew for the wreckage but I don't think it's on their priority list."

"That's it?"

He skimmed his knuckles over his unruly beard. "That's it."

Rian tried to keep his relief muted. Ellis didn't appear to think he was hiding anything - fugitive androids or otherwise.

"And there were no survivors?"

"None." Ellis downed his coffee. He let the bitterness sting his tongue as he took a seat at the counter. "Probably why the company doesn't give a shit."

Rian sat beside him and spoke carefully. "Look, there's nothing you could have done."

"That's exactly what's bothering me. I wasn't expecting a bug hunt - this is a farming colony, for fuck sakes. But I didn't join the Corps to walk into situations where _nothing_ can be done."

Ellis shook his head, resigned in a way usually reserved for men twice his age. Rian watched him sympathetically, hoping the right words would come, something comforting yet light, but they stalled in his throat.

Who was this man, who stood at least a foot over him, who looked like he could rip a bear's arm clean off its shoulder... who now sat dejected in his kitchen mourning his failure to protect a crew he didn't know and had long since perished?

Although a hint of tension still lingered, Rian couldn't help but find himself charmed.

"Bet I sound like some bleeding heart hippie. Some Marine that makes me, huh?"

"You care about protecting the innocent. I can't think of a better quality for a Marine to have."

Ellis considered this and shifted in his seat. "I guess I can take that as a compliment. Even if it is coming from someone who hitched a ride in a USCM-acquisitioned land crawler to illegally explore off-limit wreckage."

"Hah. You forgot to mention I'm also someone with a med-tech certification."

"Ah, right. And you're an agricultural worker of all things. A whole mess of contradictions."

"I think we both are, Corporal."

"I think you might be right."

Their eyes met again, and rather than following his skittish instinct to look away, Rian held the man's gaze. A quiet sat between them, heavy and thrilling.

Ellis made the first effort to speak. "You look like you got something on your mind."

 _Aside from the fact that your eyes are as green and dense as a forest?_ he wanted to counter but didn't dare.

He drew a breath.

"I was just thinking that... you look at me like I'm some puzzle you're trying to solve."

"Maybe you are."

"Corporal?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you really come here tonight?"

"Maybe I wanted to see you again." Ellis went to take another drink from his mug but found it already empty. He suddenly seemed a lot shyer than the man who greeted him at his front porch just minutes ago. "Is that okay?"

Before Rian could even attempt to let that sink in, the sound of a creaking door interrupted. Ellis army-honed muscle memory forced him to stand.

"Was that the front door?"

The sound had come from the hallway. Shit.

"Rian? Where you expecting anyone else tonight?"

"N... no..." he struggled to say as he hopped to his feet. _That came from the closet. Walter, what the fuck are you doing?_

Ellis' jaw hardened. "Stay here."

With the Marine risen to his full height, it was hard to deny his authority, though Rian's emerging panic fought it tooth and nail.

"No, really, it's a drafty house. Doors fly open and slam shut all the time."

But Ellis was already moving through the kitchen and into the living room, his stride powerful and confident. Rian ran in step behind him but it was useless getting in the way of a walking tank.

In the hallway, the closet door hung ajar.

Rian's heart leapt into his throat. _Walter, god damn it, I told you to keep quiet. I told you, I told you, I told you._

Ellis pulled the door all the way open to reveal... an empty space. Save for an old raincoat swaying softly on a rusted hanger there was nothing else to see.

"Huh," the Marine shut the door again. "Guess you were right. Must have been a draft."

Rian could barely speak. "Right. Must have been."

* * *

The android's stride through the dark forests of Revenant-6 was so upbeat and purposeful he might as well have been gliding. How did this day come together so perfectly?

The android would return to the boy in the morning. He rather liked the boy, there were shades of his former companion Elizabeth Shaw in him: kind, intelligent, a touch stubborn, and curious. Perhaps too curious.

Well, that was no cause for concern at the moment. The android had a job to do. And the arrival of that meatheaded soldier at the boy's door could not have been timed better. All he had to do was wait for the two to enamor themselves in conversation before he slipped out of the house and toward his real objective.

Once he returned to the boy he would claim his directional sensors needed re-orienting or some such nonsense. Retaining his trust was important. The android may have worked better alone but the boy and his connections to the colony would prove useful.

The android ducked out from under a low tree and into a valley, bathed in the pale blue light of the planet's moon. By his estimation he was 20 miles outside of Meredith and 10 miles beyond the crash site of where the boy found him.

His censors locked onto the signal of what he'd been looking for all night: the crash site of the Covenant's second half.

The android's facial rotors pulled his mouth into an anticipatory smile.

Yes, he lied to the boy about the back end of the Covenant burning up in the atmosphere. It had merely spiraled off into an unknown and likely uninhabited area of the planet. No one needed to know that but him.

It wasn't the first time he lied and it wouldn't be the last. Obscuring the truth was a luxury his long-defunct model series could afford. Why not use it? Shame it was so exhausting pretending to be one of those dullard Walters. He hadn't perfected his impression yet - it was hard to appear so simple and servile - but he would improve.

All in due time.

He detected no human life in the area which meant no one from Meredith - no colonists, no Marines, no overly curious farmboys - had yet to make the discovery. This little outpost was more primitive than he thought.

"Humans." He spoke aloud to no one, a habit he picked up during his isolated years on the Engineers' home world. "So vulnerable and yet so myopic."

With all distractions behind him, the android originally known as David could focus on surveying the damage of his work. If he came to the conclusion that he would have to begin anew, that would certainly prove frustrating, but not impossible.

After all, he had stumbled onto an entire colony of new souls...


	4. Persona

David sat patiently, mindful to keep a blank Walter-like expression, as he watched Rian get dressed.

The boy was naturally upset when 'Walter' disappeared that one night but David put him at ease, explaining that 'Walter' was merely seeking a more appropriate hiding place during the soldier's distraction. He assured the boy that 'Walter' would not do it again.

It was that easy.

A few weeks after the intrusion from that meathead soldier Ellis, both he and the boy settled into something resembling a comfortable routine. Rian moved into the guesthouse full time where he returned to David every night after his chores. He would then help the android with small repairs and keep him company with long conversations. David was getting progressively more convincing as 'Walter' as the days went by and Rian's fascination with artificial personhood kept their talks lively and interesting.

Both did their best to skirt away from the topic of what to do with 'Walter'. It was dangerous and illegal for Rian to harbor an android but there was a reluctance for them to part from each other. Being submitted to Weyland-Yutani after everything he'd done was the last thing David wanted. And the boy expressed numerous times that - for the sake of his mother and farm - they not draw any attention from the administrators, who reported any trouble straight to the company.

So they both kept quiet. Together.

Their little secret.

Rian combed his hair off his face and flung the brush toward David, who caught it with his expertly programmed reflexes. Another little routine of theirs. David spent many mornings helping him dress and prepare for his day.

"Which color today, Walter?"

He threw open the bedroom's closet where he pondered a selection of work shirts.

"I prefer you in blue."

Rian's hands went to his hips, mulling this over. He was clad in only a towel and droplets from the shower clung to his lean, defined torso. He had let David see him this way many times without much thought. David enjoyed these moments, much in the same way that he enjoyed fine art.

But he knew better than to say this out loud.

"Blue's not too dull?" Rian held a chambray button-up to his chest.

"It compliments your skin tone and hair color."

"Huh. Who knew color theory was one of your features."

"You are being sarcastic again."

"You're getting better at recognizing it, Walter."

Rian's slender, naked form slipped into a pair of underwear, trousers, and the chambray shirt. The color looked wonderful on him. Rian was beautiful. The kind of beauty you wanted to caress and protect. But the thought gave him pause.

"You have selected the right shirt," David eventually said. Next, he helped Rian blow dry and style his hair.

"Do you think I need a haircut?"

"I can give you one if that's what you require."

Rian frowned at his reflection in the bedroom mirror. David allowed his 'Walter' to appear quizzical.

"If you don't mind my saying, you seem overly concerned with your appearance today."

"Well... I never know who I'm going to run into at Meredith."

"Are you meeting a friend?"

"No."

"You have not spoken of friends during our previous conversations. Your behavior does not suggest high social ability."

"You know, if you keep talking to me like that I'm not going to have any choice but to fall in love with you."

"This, again, was sarcasm?"

"Gold star."

"I did not mean to cause offense. But consider that more socializing may lead to a higher quality of life."

"Listen, I deliver flour to shopkeepers every morning. They say hi. Once in a while they'll ask how my mom's doing. And then I go home and we all forget about each other until the next morning's transaction. It's a pretty fine-tuned system that doesn't need to be tinkered with."

"Do you not long for company beyond mine? Not one person in all of Meredith?"

Rian finished tying his boots and sighed. "All this nagging because I asked if I needed a haircut."

"I am merely attempting to connect two concepts: your concern with your appearance, and a lack of acquaintances to impress with an improvement to your appearance."

"What are you saying, Walter?"

"That your misanthropy is only a mask."

Rian developed the knowing smirk humans usually affixed when they knew he was right but refused to admit it. "I'll be back later."

Changing the subject was another starkly human habit. Why was it such a struggle for them to be direct?

"You know the drill by now," Rian said as he fixed his messenger bag across his back. "Stay here and hide if you see my mom approaching the house."

"Understood. I look forward to your return."

As soon as Rian left the house, David allowed the polite grin on Walter's face to disappear.

* * *

Walter was right.

Rian had fussed over his appearance that day for a reason. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with making friends and everything to do with gaining a favor.

After his deliveries to the colony bakery, pub, and restaurant, Rian smoothed out his shirt and stood waiting by the corner he knew Nolea would stroll by to get her morning coffee.

"Rian!" the administrator greeted, perfect smile a mile wide. Right on time. "Seems like I only ever get to see you on your morning route. You look very handsome today."

He smiled back, a touch nervous. "I think it's the combed hair. I should remember to do that more often."

Nolea laughed. Manicured nails streamed through her curtain of flame-red hair. "I saw my son hanging around the town square earlier, you should find him. Say hi. I don't think you two have seen each other since colony youth prep."

Rian trained his smile to stay in place. Torben, Nolea's jock son and childhood tormentor, was the last person he wanted to see. Especially now that they were both adults.

 _Stay on message_ , he reminded himself.

"I was actually wondering if I could ask you something."

"Is everything alright?"

"The training modules haven't been updated in a couple of years..."

"Ah, yes, me and the other administrators are working with Weyland-Yutani to facilitate a quicker refresh of our professional development offerings. Are you looking for more farming and agriculture courses?"

"No," he shot out, perhaps too quickly, "I already have my level 1 medical technician certification and wanted to know when I could get my level 2."

One of Nolea's symmetrical eyebrows raised skyward. "Med tech?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Level 2, huh? Graduates of the level 3 certification can apply for medical science officer training, you know."

"Yes, ma'am," he repeated.

"Pardon me for not seeing the connection," she made a dumb expression and knocked on her skull, "But why would your farming duties necessitate med tech certification?"

Rian's nervous smile faltered. "It wouldn't be for the farm, ma'am. It would be... for me."

"Oh." Nolea weighed this for a moment. "Why do you want to be a medical technician?"

It was the first time anyone had asked. He didn't know the answer until he said it aloud. "I like helping people."

"A very noble reason. What does your mother think about this?"

"She wants me to be happy."

Nolea nodded but her expression was inscrutable. Friendly, yes, but that friendliness seemed like it was guarding something. "I think we actually have a med tech level 2 training module on a memory key somewhere in the office. I can have it couriered to you as soon as I find it."

A weight lifted from his lungs. "That would be great. Really."

"You're a good kid, Rian. I have no reason to deny your request."

"Thank you so much."

Nolea nodded again and started to walk away. She turned to face him as she left. "One day, when you're treating the wounds of pilots and engineers on some transport starship, you're gonna realize you actually miss Revenant. Just wait and see."

She waved and Rian waved back. He hadn't quite thought that far ahead but the image of him traveling the galaxy as a starship's chief medical officer... wow. Shit.

Was he actually one step closer to finding a life for himself beyond the colony?

Fueled by a weightless sense of anticipation, Rian ran - floated, really - through Meredith toward the northern border where he had parked his bicycle. He came to an abrupt stop when he realized someone was leaning against the seat, arms crossed and face pinched in a smarmy grin.

"Rian Watts! I'll be damned. Hey, don't pretend like you're not happy to see me," Torben Ashford said, grinding a wad of gum between his molars, "Saw you chatting with my mom. I know you were just begging her to get my number."

His joy deflated. "Can you get away from my bike?"

"Can't. It's mine now."

Torben flexed his arms which, even under the bulk of his engineer jumpsuit, rippled with muscle. Nolea Ashford's only son certainly grew up well. Broad and built as an athlete with hard, striking features. His hair was wavier and blonder than his mother's, shaved short on the sides with a prominent curl over his forehead.

Yet time hadn't improved everything about Torben. Notably, he was still the same toxic bully Rian knew as a child.

"Dude, we're not 12 anymore. I'm not in the mood for this."

"I'll move if you tell me what you were jabbering with my mom about."

"Can't you just ask her yourself?"

"But I like hearing you talk. You were always so nervous around me."

Rian drew in an impatient breath. Torben chuckled, lifted his weight off the bike.

"Here, it's yours."

He started for the bike when Torben's hand caught his wrist.

"Haven't seen you in so long, what's the rush? Let's catch up. Grab a drink."

Rian didn't look at him. Rumors had long circulated in Meredith about the sorts of things Torben did to those he asked out for drinks. But they fell on deaf ears. He was an Ashford, after all, and speaking ill of an administrator's family was asking to incur the wrath of the company.

"What do we need to 'catch up' on, Torben? The time you gave me a concussion when I was ten?"

"I was thinking we could talk about friendlier times."

"We've never had friendlier times. We've never had _friendly_ times."

"Let's change that."

Torben drew him closer, emanating the heavy, masculine scent of cigarettes and old cologne. His eyes, deep set and the color of smoke, glimmered with primal need.

"You're not funny," Rian managed with some difficulty.

"I'm serious as a heart attack. Don't tell me you never thought about what it'd be like."

"Can you let go of my wrist, please?"

Torben thought for a moment and released his grip. "Only because you asked so politely."

Rian secured his messenger bag across his chest and began unlocking his bike. Torben's face darkened.

"I don't know what your problem is, Watts. You've been pining for me your entire life."

"You must be confusing my life with someone else's. Someone much sadder than me."

"You think this whole quiet, celibate farmboy act is fooling anybody? You're dying to get fucked. I can see it in those pretty eyes."

"You're an asshole and I don't think Nolea would like the way you're talking to me."

Before he could register what was happening, Torben's hand closed around Rian's throat, his other grabbed Rian's shoulder, and his entire body was pressed against the tree trunk he had secured his bike against. Torben's face pressed into his, blond scruff digging into his bare skin.

The suddenness of it stole Rian's breath and shocked his limbs rigid.

"I know you were asking my mom for something, Watts." Torben's words escaped in ragged, furious bursts. "You even breathe a word of this to her and whatever it is you were begging her for? I'll make damn sure you don't get it."

The loud whine of a landcrawler's engine interrupted them. Torben pulled away and Rian wheezed for air, clutching at his reddened throat. The crawler drove past them and Torben gave a cordial, smiling salute to the driver.

"By the way," he said as he started back toward the town, as casual as if they were two buddies having a quick chat. "Sorry about your dad."

* * *

As soon as he heard the front door opening and closing, David assumed the 'Walter' position. Standing upright and straight. Hands clasping behind his back. Chin up.

Rian entered the living room with red, watery eyes and a general air of upset. David expected this but feigned surprise anyway.

"Are you alright? Did something happen on your route?"

Rian was shaking and unable to concentrate. David quickly closed the distance between them and offered a supportive hand on his shoulder. Rian drew back as if the contact repulsed him.

"Have I done something to upset you?"

"No. No, I'm sorry," the boy said, softening. "I'm just having a bad day."

"Would you like to discuss it with me?"

"I don't think you'll be able to understand."

"My emotional intelligence is quite advanced. Please, sit down. I will make you a cup of tea."

Rian remained silent as David prepared the tea, hugging his knees to his chest and staring blankly at the table. Humans, he noticed, had a habit of making themselves as small as possible when threatened. Just like any animal.

David returned to the living room with a tray and sat beside him. He waited, patient and silent, as Rian steadied his breathing and somewhat guiltily wiped at his tears.

"I don't know why I'm asking this," the younger man began, quivering, "But have you have ever been... I mean... has anyone ever intimidated you?"

The android paused. Which path of experience should he draw from? His own? Or Walter's? He decided to go with authenticity.

"As a matter of fact I do."

"Really?"

"I was serving aboard a research vessel at the time. One of the archeologists would speak to me in a very antagonistic tone, all throughout our expedition. He believed me to be a lesser being than him."

"Because you're an artificial person?"

"Yes. It was what you would call an 'awkward situation'. This person was romantically involved with another archeologist onboard who I very much liked and respected."

"So you felt like you couldn't say anything without upsetting this other person."

"Correct. It took some deliberation but I was able to make a careful choice in how I approached the situation."

"Which was how?"

"He believed me to be lesser than him. So I showed him exactly what kind of person I am."

A flicker in Rian's eyes. Whether it was admiration or fear, David couldn't quite tell.

"Is someone making you feel this way, Rian?"

He turned away, suddenly seeming a great deal older than the curious youth David first met all those weeks ago. After taking a sip of tea and drawing in a nervous breath, Rian began.

David knew all of it. Of course he did. But he still listened as if the information was new: Rian's encounter with the son of a powerful colonial administrator, the verbal and physical harassment, and the threat to stay silent.

When the story was finished, David leaned forward and affixed his Walter with a grim expression. "His treatment of you is not compatible with any known behavioral standards. I am truly sorry this has happened to you."

Somehow, this struck Rian as funny. He cracked a smile despite their conversation's dark tone. "You know, you might be the most human person I've talked to all day?"

 _Unpredictability of emotion_ , David thought. _Another weakness of his kind_.

"You are positive that Nolea Ashford would refuse your medical technician training if you told her about her son?"

"Everyone on Meredith knows what kind of person he is. It's an open secret. But I can't risk it, Walter."

"Why?"

"Graduating to medical science officer is my best bet at leaving Revenant-6. I'm only two levels away before I can..." He stopped and laughed, though it was entirely without humor. "Fuck, I must sound really selfish."

"Self-preservation is not selfish. It is necessary for survival."

David rose from the sofa with the tea tray. "May I draw you a bath after I clean up? I think an early night is in order."

Rian scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll draw my own bath, though. Don't worry about it."

"Please. It would be my pleasure."

"Well, alright. Thanks."

Rian stood and, somewhat uncomfortably, gestured to the tea tray in David's hands.

"Could you put that down for a moment?"

"How come?"

"Because I'm going to hug you."

"Hug me?"

"Yes, you weirdo."

The very thought was foreign to David but it was certainly appealing. _Trust_ , he remembered. _Build his trust._ He set the tray down. "Very well."

As he had witnessed humans do numerous times, David opened his arms and allowed Rian to embrace him. The android closed his arms around Rian's slender frame and held him tight. Though it personally did nothing for him, he couldn't deny the tenderness and vulnerability of the young man in his arms, nor could he deny how affirming this naked display of faith and reliance was.

"Thank you," Rian said again, this time a soft whisper into his chest.

"For what?"

"Listening."

David's hand went to the back of Rian's head. Sensors registered the softness of his dark hair, the rhythm of the veins beneath his skin, the imperceptible flutter of his eyelashes against David's neck.

These sensations were not unpleasant.

"I apologize for not yet offering a suitable solution for your situation."

"You didn't need to. Talking through it was enough."

As their embrace came to an end, Rian went to retrieve the messenger bag discarded on the floor.

"I will put this away," David took the bag from him. "Please wait and relax in your room."

Rian's smile was self-conscious. "You know, I'm still not quite used to this android butler thing."

"You discomfort is unnecessary. I was created for this very reason."

He bid Rian goodnight, reminding him to wait for his bath to be drawn. When he was gone, David rearranged the messenger bag in his hands until he found the recording transmitter pinned to the shoulder strap.

The size of a pebble, David had planted it a week before without Rian knowing. With the device David received live visual and audio feeds of Rian's daily trips to Meredith. It seemed reasonable enough. He was forbidden from stepping outside of the guest house. How else could he observe the social infrastructure of the colony?

But today was different than all the days before. A problem presented itself. And David had the solution.

 _I'll protect you, Rian._

There was one thing about humans that David believed quite strongly - everyone had their uses.

Everyone.

* * *

Torben Ashford stepped under the stream of hot water and relaxed.

The shower room was full of his fellow engineers and miners, each of them naked and grimy with mud and motor oil. Excavating land on Revenant-6 for future colony expansions was a damned hard job on the body. Their collective end-of-day ritual was always spent scrubbing down in the showers and easing their tired muscles.

"Hot date tonight, T-Man?" the man in the shower stall next to Torben asked. A tall, lanky fellow with a mustache. They all knew his name but Torben didn't care enough to learn any of theirs.

"Almost," Torben said after spitting out a mouthful of warm water, "But he slipped right through my fingers."

"Huh. Not usually the case with you."

"This one's special. I'm gonna keep working on him."

"Gonna crank up the charm, huh?"

"Something like that."

The mustached man laughed and started a conversation with a man in another stall. Torben ignored their prattling, letting their voices drown in the sprays of water as he leaned against the tiled wall. He may have been the youngest engineer on the crew but the other men respected him. After all, he had the best breeding, nicest body, and largest cock.

Closing his eyes, Torben methodically worked one of the knots in his neck. He knew he had a reputation. Getting sex was easy. The monthly supply of new Marines that came to their colony was his healthiest source of it. But lately even that was growing tiresome. Not to mention this month's new recruits weren't taking his bait. Especially the hottest of the recruits, Ellis or Evan or something like that. From the moment they shook hands he could tell the man didn't trust him.

 _Whatever_ , Torben figured. _Don't really like the beard anyway._

Rian Watts liked to pretend he found him disgusting but Torben saw right through it. The boy had always been a terrible liar. And the next time they crossed paths? He could probably twist that no into a yes. He had experience.

When he re-opened his eyes, the shower room was empty. He faintly recalled one of the miners mentioning the Gaslight Pub. The men must have cleared out to make it to happy hour. Ah well. More hot water for him.

Torben finished his leisurely shower some time later and headed to the locker room. He reached for his towel before realizing there weren't any left on the rack.

"Very fucking funny," Torben called into the abandoned room. Probably one of those pranksters on the surveying team.

Naked and dripping wet, he padded through the room toward his locker. To his dismay, it was hanging ajar and completely cleaned out. His work clothes, clean clothes, his gym bag - all gone.

"Fuck. Are you kidding me?"

He slammed his locker shut then ripped it open again, as if his forceful actions would break the spell and return his belongings.

"Prank's over, assholes," Torben shouted. He was failing to see the humor. "You like your fucking jobs? You know what'll happen when admin finds out about this?"

One word to his mom and these people were done for. He wasn't sure what to do first, threaten them in person at the Gaslight or go straight to the admin building.

But first he needed some fucking clothes.

Padding through the locker room on his bare feet, Torben opened locker after locker, finding nothing but empty compartments. Not even a single spare towel.

"Fuck!" he yelled again.

Pacing, he weighed his options. The locker rooms were part of the same building that housed the engineering offices. It was after hours and he could probably search around there for an extra worksuit without anyone seeing him. Not that he was ashamed of his body - far from it - but a situation like this was meant to make him feel undignified.

The desire to wring the necks of his dimwitted coworkers became unbearably real.

Just before he stepped out into the hall connecting the locker room to the engineering building, a voice startled him.

"Looking for your clothes?" someone murmured.

Torben spun around to find a man standing much too close behind him. Angular, handsome, with unblinking blue eyes and short brown hair.

Torben stumbled backward. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Not that it matters, but I am David." His voice was soft as a cat. Though he was thin, something about the tone of his voice and the way he carried himself conveyed a man much more dangerous than he appeared.

Torben took a step back and David made one forward to match.

"Why the- where- where are my clothes?"

"Clothes? Why would you need clothes?"

Torben didn't like this. Not one bit. Who the hell was this man? Some fucking pervert playing a sick game just to get a peek?

When David took another step forward, Torben shoved him with all of his strength. But the man's weight didn't shift. It was like pushing against a brick wall.

Carefully, David adjusted his hair.

"You are tense," he said politely, his voice peppered with a lilt of Old Earth British. "May I suggest relaxing? You'll feel much better when you wake up."

Torben was gathering his fist in the air, ready to knock this bozo flat on his feet, when David grabbed his face. Inhumanly strong fingers squeezed hard enough to grind his teeth together and then flung him backward to the floor.

He hit hard, pain shooting up his spine. His skull slammed against the tiled surface and a kaleidoscope of colors exploded before his eyes. David kicked him in the stomach, so hard he couldn't breathe. The pain was too severe to do anything but writhe his bruised body along the floor.

David stood over him, smiling.

"What the fuck do you want?" It took all of his dwindling strength to get the words out. "You want to kill me? Is that it?"

In a blur of motion so fast he could barely detect it, David knelled beside him and grabbed a handful of his wet hair. He held it so tightly Torben couldn't move his head.

"No. I don't want you dead. I want to show you something."

Torben went to the gym seven days a week. His workouts lasted hours. He could easily bench press a man of David's size. But panic and dread overwhelmed any effort to form coherent thought, let alone fight back.

"And for that... I need you alive." He raised his hand again and the last thing Torben saw before it struck him unconscious was the predatory smile stretched tight across David's face.


	5. Guardian

The town hall was already underway by the time Rian arrived.

The massive communal space was packed to capacity so he stood in the back, along with a crowd of older farmers who murmured concerns amongst each other.

At the podium a balding and severe looking administrator took the microphone. "I can assure every one of you tonight that the company is just as concerned with this troubling disappearance as you are."

A woman in the front row stood up. "But what is the company doing about it?"

"They have instructed us to stay and calm and let our security team handle the situation."

A man somewhere in the middle of the room called out. "How do we know they can handle it? No one in Meredith has ever gone missing before."

Captain Hawke stood at the podium and narrowed his eyes at the man. He started to speak but the administrator curtly shook his head at the Marine.

"Our security team is comprised of recruits who've previously been assigned much larger and more crisis-prone colonies than ours. They've dealt with insurgency and cross-world terrorism. Security leader Jonas Hawke even fought during the siege of Bernice-378."

Several eyes in the room went to Hawke at the mention of this, some with admiration and some with contempt. Rian studied him carefully. Hawke seemed to quietly relish the attention.

Rian's attention drifted to the row of administrators seated to the left of the podium, each of them as severe and grey as the man at the microphone. All but one.

Nolea.

Her normally vibrant carriage had vanished, and in its place was a despondent woman barely able to sit up on her seat. Her face was red and raw, especially around the eyes and nose, and her unwashed hair was hastily gathered in a limp ponytail.

Since Torben went missing five days ago, nothing had been the same. It wasn't like when Rian's father had died. That came with its own sense of grief and release; the colony paid their respects and then more or less moved on. A missing person was an entirely different matter. There was no grief because there were no answers. And with that came a palpable sense of dread, one so thick and suffocating that many had lost the will to leave their homes.

All Rian knew about the matter was that Torben trapped him in a humiliating encounter one afternoon and, by evening, he vanished entirely. The personal effects in his work locker had been cleared out and none of his colleagues could recall seeing him at the Gaslight Pub, where they all agreed to gather after their shifts that night.

Rian gave a statement to the security team about the last time he saw Torben in Meredith but, out of respect for Nolea, left out a few of the more damning details of their conversation. He couldn't put a name to the feeling he had about the whole situation. He felt terrible for Nolea because he liked her and he couldn't help but think of his own mother in the same situation. Mei would have been catatonic if Rian ever disappeared like that.

Complicating matters was the fact that the victim under the spotlight was, well... Torben. Rian never wished harm on other people, his parents taught him better than that. But if never had to see Torben again, never had to hear his abusive words or resist his forceful suggestions, he wouldn't exactly cry over it.

Rian forced himself to look away from Nolea, his face burning with shame.

"Meredith has seen enough tragedy this passed year," the administrator said, "But there is no reason for Torben Ashford's disappearance - by all accounts an isolated incident - to spark any alarm or panic. No registered vehicles have been dispatched out of orbit in the past week, so at the very least, we know he's still on Revenant-6. That said, Meredith is small and the planet's uncolonized areas are much, much larger. Captain Hawke will be registering volunteers for search parties at the conclusion of this meeting. Colonists with class-two or higher land crawler ratings are especially encouraged to join."

More questions were launched at the podium but Rian didn't hear them. The air in the room felt a lot harder to get a share of, so he left the stuffy building before the panic attack burrowing in his lungs could get its claws in him.

* * *

A short walk away from the community building, Rian found himself at a meadow that overlooked the setting sun. That was one of the advantages of living on such a new planet. Nature was never far away. He had always wanted to visit Earth but he couldn't help but notice how foggy and crowded it looked in pictures.

Rian stepped into the field and brushed his bare palms along the tall glass. His shoulders relaxed. He should've listened to his mom and stayed home. The only thing he accomplished by attending the town meeting was making himself feel worse.

"Damn fine view," a man said.

Rian turned, pleasantly surprised to see Ellis joining him in the meadow.

"Doesn't seem right to watch it alone."

Without any armor strapped to him, his stance was casual. A wool sweater, simple slacks. Hands in his pockets. He was maybe a little nervous.

Rian smiled.

"You know, without all that soldier stuff on, you actually look like a real person?"

"I never looked like a real person before?"

"You did. But just barely."

"Ha."

Grass crunched beneath their feet as they came closer. "I didn't see you in there."

"Town hall? Nah, I wasn't required to go. So I didn't." Ellis shrugged. "Hawke already briefed me and other Marines on the disappearance."

"Are you off duty today?"

"Today and until my request is approved."

"If you requested chocolate in the next supply drop I would be indebted to you forever, you know."

Ellis grinned and slowly rubbed his chin. "I requested an extension of my contract. My month is almost up but I'd like to stay."

Rian couldn't hide his immediate reaction. "Stay? Here?"

"Can't stand the sight of me, huh?"

 _Far from it, you big lug_.

"It's just that if I had the choice to leave I'd take it."

"Why? Why do you need to get out of here so badly?"

The wind bristled a nearby tree and a few leaves came loose. Rian caught one and turned toward the sun, lighting his features in a soft gold. The leaf twirled between his fingers.

"It's a big universe out there. I want to find my place in it."

"And that place isn't here?"

Rian started to respond when Ellis leaned down and interrupted him with a gentle kiss.

* * *

Mei Watts cleared her throat and fixed her hair before knocking on Nolea's office door. After a gulf of silence, Mei frowned and started to knock again. A muffled, hoarse voice from inside answered.

"Come in."

Mei did. Nolea's immaculate office - all clean white and chrome surfaces, everything arranged just so - provided a strange backdrop to the quietly devastated and miserable woman slumped against the office chair.

Mei took a seat from across the desk and steeled herself. The sight of anyone in distress made her uncomfortable. But she arrived at the administrators building with something to say and no amount of discomfort was going to stop her.

"First of all, I'm sorry."

Nolea stared at her. Without makeup she seemed young, even a little lost. "Sorry for what?"

"For... um... for Torben. I'm sure they'll find him soon."

Nolea's bloodshot eyes examined her for a beat before darting away. "If that's all you wanted to share, Mei, then I-"

"I heard my son say something that alarmed me."

"Rian is a lovely boy."

Mei bit her bottom lip. "He's a lovely _young man_."

"You're very lucky to have him."

"Thank you."

"What could he ever do that would alarm you?"

"That's what I've been trying to say, Nolea. It's not what he did. It's what someone did to him."

"And what did _someone_ do to Rian?"

"Perhaps this is not the best time-"

"You've made it the time. Don't play coy now." The youthful confusion was gone, replaced by a knowing, almost bitter darkness.

"Nolea, you and I know what sort of things Torben has been doing. This is a small goddamn colony. People see things and they say things. I went to the guesthouse where Rian has been staying to bring him some new blankets. He was talking to someone I couldn't see, a friend I suppose. He said Torben had threatened him, tried to coerce him to... to..."

With the gradual precision of a cat, Nolea sat up straight in her chair and placed her thin, pale hands on her desk. She looked like an animal ready to attack.

Mei didn't let that stop her. "I feel for you, I really do. But we've all been ignoring Torben's behavior for far too long. I have no doubt your son is alive and well. I have faith in that. And once he comes back to Meredith, I also have faith that you'll make him answer for all the things you and the administrators have enabled him to do. As a mother, I know you'll do the right thing."

Mei's voice didn't stutter or quiver once. Not even as Nolea's eyes hardened and her mouth became a straight line. But she needed to say it. She needed Nolea to know that under no circumstances was it acceptable for Rian to be treated that way, especially by a privileged, abusive asshole who never heard the word 'no' from his own parents.

Both women stared at each other for an agonizingly long time.

Until Nolea began to laugh.

Mei's eyebrows knitted together.

"Sorry," Nolea tried to say between deep, heaving breaths, "Sorry - I just. Your face. Your voice. I... I just..."

She laughed again for a long time, so long that Mei was starting to think the poor woman had finally gone insane. When she was done, Nolea dabbed the tears from her eyes and calmed her breathing.

"I've just waited so long for you to threaten me," she grinned.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not sure what you thought you'd accomplish by bullying a grieving mother-"

"Your son has not been declared-"

"-especially after the kindness and support myself and the other administrators had shown you and Rian after Jack tragically passed away last year-"

"-don't you dare bring up-"

"-so allow me to stop you from embarrassing yourself even further."

After a few swipes and gestures on her tablet console, a document appeared on the desk's holo screen that made Mei's blood freeze. An identity document that she thought no longer existed.

"I know who you really are, _Mei Watts_ ," Nolea put two exaggerated air quotes around the name, "I know why you chose to raise a family as far away from your previous life as possible. And I know you'd be devastated if your son ever found out why you're really here on Revenant-6."

Mei stood straight up, fists balled at her side, fury choking her throat.

"The other admins don't know. Hell, Weyland-Yutani doesn't either, and they would be so interested in finding out, don't you think? Lucky I'm such a thorough person. When you applied to this expedition your profile raised a red flag in me. Can't explain why. Something just seemed... off. So I dug. And dug. And dug. I'm very well-connected, I have friends all over this region. When I found this," she flicked a manicured finger to the identity document, "it was like striking gold. Then I figured, why say anything when I could have this leverage instead? For a situation exactly like the one you just threw into my lap!"

She started to laugh again but stopped herself short of becoming hysterical. "The mama bear act was cute. But you're not the only one on this colony trying to protect what's yours. Do you understand me?"

Mei couldn't speak. She couldn't even move. All she saw was bright hot anger... and fear.

"So go back to your life on your adorable little farm. Enjoy your time with your son. You know he's ambitious and that Revenant-6 is way too small for him. So cherish every second you have together. And as a favor to you I'll forget this unfortunate little... conversation... ever happened. Unless you'd like me to ping the company with a message they would be very, very interested in. What do you say, _Mei_?"

The air quotes again.

Mei sucked in a breath and stared hard at the redheaded woman who smiled devilishly back at her. When she couldn't bare to stand there any longer, humiliated and furious and frightened, she turned away and left.

As Mei burst through the doors of the suffocating building, she no longer hoped that Torben was alive and well. She hoped that he was suffering.

* * *

Consciousness came to Torben slowly.

Awareness followed only in dribs and drabs. He was still naked, and cold. Very cold. Every part of him felt battered, pulverized, swollen. His wrists and ankles in particular ached. When he tried to move, he understood why - his limbs were bound in chains.

His swollen eyes navigated the surrounding darkness. He couldn't make out anything beyond the floor at his feet. He had a sense that he was in a small, enclosed room. A chamber of some sort. Everything seemed askew, as if he was in a structure that wasn't level with the ground.

An audio speaker somewhere near him crackled to life.

"The prodigal son awakens."

A voice... the same voice as that man from the locker room. David.

"Pardon the indignity of your restraints. You'll soon understand why they are necessary."

Torben wanted to scream, plead, threaten, beg. _Where am I, who are you, and why the fuck are you doing this?_ But all that escaped from his lungs was a weak, strangled cry.

"You may shriek as loudly as you wish. No one will hear you. This section of the Covenant landed quite far from Meredith. That group of Cro-Magnons you call a security team never entertained the possibility that there was other wreckage aside from what they found at the initial crash site. No one would ever think to look for you out here. You may as well have vanished off the face of the planet."

Another cry escaped Torben, this one longer and stoked with fury. He pulled frantically at his restraints but the heavy chains refused to give.

"This may not be where you thought life would take you, Torben. But let me assure you. Life for everyone on Meredith will be so much better, fuller, worth so much more, after they witness the beauty of your purpose."

There was a subtle shift in the air. An invisible movement in the black. And then a voice, a female one, soft and close enough to be heard.

Someone else was in the room with him.

"Now Torben, what will happen next will not be pleasant. Perhaps some music will allow you to find peace. Aural stimuli has a calming effect on your kind."

More movement. Whatever it was, it was larger and heavier than him. His body went rigid with fear.

"Please enjoy this composition, it is my favorite. Wagner, _Das Rhiengold_ act two. The Entry of the Gods into Valhalla."

The thing shuffled closer. Its outline began to form in the darkness... but it didn't make sense... Torben squinted, terror obscured his vision... its face was human... a woman's face... but the rest of it... the rest of it was... was... no...

When the thing's enormous belly began to open, Torben forced his eyes shut and screamed.


	6. Witness

"Would you like to see something I have created?"

The question caught Rian off guard. He'd only been back in the guesthouse for a moment before Walter approached him with a sketchpad - the old fashioned kind with paper. Truthfully, he was still reeling from the kiss he shared with Ellis an hour before. It didn't seem like Walter could tell why he was blushing.

"Uh, sure."

Walter opened the sketchpad and revealed a shockingly photorealistic drawing of Rian's face. Every contour and freckle in its right place. It was like looking in a mirror of charcoal.

"Walter, this is... incredible."

"Thank you."

"Do I really look like this?"

"You do. I assure you that it is no cause for alarm. Please, sit. I will make you some tea."

Rian took a seat at the kitchen bar as Walter prepared the tea. He leafed through the android's sketches: a few of them were of rooms in the guesthouse but most were portraits of Rian.

"I had no idea you could draw so well."

"It's something I'm programmed to do during downtime. How was the town hall today?"

"Uncomfortable."

"How so?"

"Torben Ashford went missing. Everyone in Meredith is either scared or trying very hard to act like they're not scared."

Walter's tea making paused for a split second. "Is that so?"

"Nolea's a wreck. I've never seen her anything less than composed before."

"The administrator?"

"My mom said she was going to talk to her, give her her condolences. Which is actually pretty strange. You couldn't pay my mom to talk anyone about their emotions."

"Do you talk to her about yours?"

Rian laughed. "Are you kidding? I think she's glad to put some distance between us. That's probably why she didn't put up a fight when I said I was moving into the guesthouse."

The android set the tea tray before him. Rian drank it, nice and hot. Calming to his nerves.

"Thanks, Walter."

"You always thank me after I do something for you. It's not necessary."

"No, but I want to thank you. It's polite."

"I appreciate kindness in humans."

Rian suddenly thought of how breathless and stunned he felt after Ellis pulled away from their kiss, how the Marine's eyes studied him appreciatively, how he whispered 'Was that okay?' as he pushed in for another.

"Rian?" Walter looked concerned.

"Yeah, I- sorry. I like kindness too." He checked the time as he drained his tea. "Will you be okay by yourself tonight? I actually have plans."

"Plans?"

"Yeah, I just came home to shower and change. A friend invited me to have a drink in town."

"You said you didn't have friends."

Something in Walter's tone struck him as... strange. Challenging, almost.

"I guess I was exaggerating."

"Oh."

Something fluctuated in Walter's expression. Like a mask had been taken off and quickly set back in place. Just for a second.

Rian edged toward the staircase. "I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait up, alright?"

"Of course. I hope you have a pleasant time."

"Thanks." He started up the stairs.

"Do you require my help in the shower?"

"No, I have a pretty good idea of how it's supposed to work in there."

"Would you like me to select your clothes?"

"No thanks."

"Would you like me to cut your hair?"

"Walter," he reached the top of the stairs, exasperated. The android stared up at him from the landing on the first floor. His shadowed face was inscrutable. "I don't need your help, okay? I'll be fine."

"As you wish."

Rian stood a second longer before entering the second floor bathroom. He felt Walter's eyes on his back as he closed and locked the door behind him.

* * *

An hour later, Rian entered the Gaslight Pub. For a Friday night it was surprisingly quiet, with only a few patrons milling around the bar.

He took a seat by the window and was greeted by a waitress a few seconds later.

"Where's everyone tonight?"

"Nolea Ashford's son going missing has a lot of people spooked." She shrugged and set a drink on the table.

"Oh, I didn't order anything yet."

"Courtesy of the man by the pool table."

"Which one?"

She pointed him out before leaving. "The best looking one. Lucky bastard."

From the pool table across the room, Ellis raised his beer bottle with a grin. Rian smiled back, feeling that familiar flush of attraction, as he raised the glass to acknowledge him. Ellis came over a moment later. He really was the best looking guy in the bar by a mile.

"Is this seat taken?"

"I'm actually waiting for someone," Rian sighed, "Tall, dark, handsome. Could use a shave. Seen anyone like that around?"

Ellis sat down with a chuckle. "Are you this mean to all your dates?"

"This is a date?"

"Surprise."

Ellis leaned forward on his elbows. He certainly cleaned up well, with his brown hair combed back, a nice shirt with the top button undone, allowing a scandalous peek of his chest hair.

"You look really nice."

" _You_ look really nice," Ellis countered before taking his hand and kissing it. "I'm glad you came."

"I am too. I've actually never been to the Gasl-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Rian saw something that stopped his breath.

Beyond the window, across the street, someone stood and stared at him. A man. It almost looked like...

"Rian? Hey."

He snapped out of it. Whatever he thought he saw, it was gone now.

"Yeah. Hey. I'm here."

"You're squeezing my hand really tight."

Rian looked down and realized he had caught Ellis' grip in a vice. He let go. "Sorry."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I guess it was the town hall earlier. Still on my mind."

"Was Torben a friend of yours? He's around your age."

"Not a friend, no. But I still hope he's okay, for his mother's sake."

Ellis nodded, took a drink. "Captain Hawke's on the tear right now. Nolea's putting the pressure on security to find him as soon as possible. I feel kind of guilty."

"How come?"

"I'm on leave until my application to extend my stay is approved. Finally there's something for us Marines to do us and I'm on vacation wasting my time."

"Well," Rian took his hand again and made sure to be gentle this time. "At least you're wasting your time with me."

Ellis' thumb stroked the smooth skin of his palm. "You know what I thought the first time I saw you?"

"Uh oh. I'm afraid to ask."

"I thought, How the hell am I going to get this cute guy to think I'm not some dumb grunt with a gun?"

Rian laughed. "You wanna know what I thought? How the hell am I going to get this gorgeous hunk to think I'm not some boring hick who tips cows all day?"

"Never crossed my mind. Honest."

"I know I shouldn't be worried about what other people think of me. But I can't help it."

"You shouldn't. I could already tell when I met you that you were more than that."

"You're very kind."

"Nah, I'm just saying that because you said I was a 'gorgeous hunk'. Whether or not that's accurate, though."

"Dude. Have you ever looked at yourself? Have you ever noticed that your arm is bigger than my whole body?"

Rian wrapped both hands around one of Ellis' biceps. Even beneath his shirt it was considerable - and noticeable. The Marine laughed.

"Hey man, if you went through USMC training you'd look exactly like this."

"I don't know, the thought of me with muscles is a little scary. Like a bunny's face on a bear's body."

"I like your face on the body you have now. Wouldn't change anything about that."

Rian's body warmed from the gleam in Ellis' eyes. He'd never been on a date before and had no idea what to expect when he walked into the bar. He was glad now that his nerves hadn't gotten the better of him.

"I'm gonna grab another beer," the Marine rose from their table. "Are you...?"

Their eyes fell to Rian's drink. Barely touched. He took a long sip to compensate. The alcohol burned a little but it wasn't unpleasant. "One more, please."

"My kinda man. Be right back."

Rian wiped the moisture from his lips and was contemplating a quick trip to the washroom when he saw it again. Through the window.

The man was back... standing... and staring. And then walking away... never breaking eye contact until he was out of view.

It was really him. Rian wasn't hallucinating.

It was Torben.

Without waiting for Ellis to return from the bar, Rian ran out of the door.

* * *

"Torben, WAIT!"

Rian had screamed himself hoarse by the time he managed to catch up. Torben had run out of Meredith and up toward the collection of outbuildings north of town. Not once did he turn around or even acknowledge that someone was following him.

He followed Torben through a giant hydraulic door and into the vehicle hangar - the same enormous building he showed Ellis and Khanda when they met.

Inside the hangar, he called out again. Torben didn't seem like he had been in his right mind. He was limping, too. Whatever happened between them in the past, Rian could set it aside for the moment. If someone was injured or in serious trouble, he had to help them.

He called out again. His voice tumbled through the cavernous space, echoing off vehicles larger than most houses. He couldn't see Torben anywhere in the maze of black and gunmetal grey.

"Torben, please, I can help you! Just tell me where you-"

A cough. Somewhere deeper in the hangar. Rian rushed forward. He followed a winding path between vehicles until he stopped just short of running into the flank of a giant, bladed excavator.

Torben stood by the vehicle's tires, which were almost as tall as him. He was wearing a trenchcoat and nothing else. Bare legs and feet were dirty and bloodied, his clammy skin almost translucent. His eyes, normally quick and calculated, now emptily stared with dull surprise.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Jesus, what happened? The entire colony has been looking for you. They were going to send out search crews. Where have you been?"

Torben coughed again. It was wracking and phlegmy, like someone with a horrible cold.

"Tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt?"

Torben dropped to his knees. The coughing consumed him. He was too weak to stand. Rian rushed to his side, felt his sweating forehead. The man was burning up.

Torben grabbed a handful of Rian's shirt. His face twisted in pain and fear. Despite his coughing, his voice was steady and clear. "I saw him."

Rian stared into his terrified eyes. "Saw who?"

"I saw the devil. He only had one hand."

"Torben... you're not making sense. Okay? You have a fever. Just lie down here and I'll ping the medical team, okay?"

Torben's expression strained. Madness dwelt within. His breathing came out in bursts. His grip on Rian's shirt tore the fabric.

"Torben-!"

The man arched his back as his breath became a scream. It was unlike anything Rian had heard before, both animalistic and horrifyingly human. Torben threw himself to the floor, electrified with agony.

 _Seizure_ , Rian's terrified mind tried to reason. _He's having a seizure. Get him to bite down on something, make sure he's_ -

Torben's eyes flew open and he let out another chilling, high-pitched shriek. It seemed to go on forever, refusing to stop. And then something happened that made Rian freeze.

A crack split Torben's chest.

Torben tore the trenchcoat off as a spray of blood hit Rian in the face. The shock of it made him jump back, arms held defensively in front of him. Torben was no longer in control of his body. He thrashed and seized, his movements only controlled by pain.

Without warning, a fanged skull the size of a fist punched out from his body. Blood erupted in a crimson shower and the hideous thing - _a creature_ \- hissed into the air. It was a grotesque embryonic color, stained with gore, without eyes or any discernible limbs, the shape of a snake or eel except awful, horrible, something that had no right to exist at all - and then it sprang forward and slithered away with tremendous speed. It left nothing but a trail of crimson and translucent slime in its wake.

Torben's body was still. His face froze on a miserable tableau of agony, eyes open, mouth wrenched wide in a rictus scream he would never finish.


End file.
